Fields & Energy

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Is electromagnetism due to one thing: a photon which is somehow simultaneously a localized point particle and a non-localized wave? Or is it two different yet complimentary things: non-local fields guiding localized energy? Alex Macris over at the Contemplations on the Tree of Woe Substack provides a good summary.

Hans argues that conventional thinking on electromagnetism, as currently taught and understood, is based on false premises, and that a return to the original, physically grounded formulations of the 19th century (especially those of Faraday, Maxwell, Heaviside, and Hertz) can provide a clearer, more coherent foundation for physics. Underlying this is a broader critique of modern scientific culture: that it has become overly formalistic, dismissive of alternative interpretations, and hostile to foundational questioning. Hans’s goal is to reinvigorate scientific inquiry by recovering lost insights and re-centering electromagnetic theory on physical understanding rather than abstract calculation.

The Fields & Energy project has grown from the originally envisioned single tome into a three-volume trilogy:

• Book I: Fundamentals & Origins of Electromagnetism

• Book II: Where Physics Went Wrong

• Book III: How Electromagnetism & Quantum Mechanics Work

As of Fall 2025, Book I is complete and on its way to backers of the Fields & Energy Book I crowdfund. All the content from Book I and most of the content from Book II are already available in post format here at the Fields & Energy Substack.

What’s Book I about? Here’s the back-cover blurb.

What if the most fundamental force in nature were misunderstood, and its true nature forgotten?

In this groundbreaking first volume of the Fields & Energy series, theoretical physicist and inventor Hans G. Schantz takes readers on a journey to rediscover the forgotten foundations of electromagnetism. With clarity and precision, Schantz reveals how 19th-century scientists developed a deep and intuitive understanding of electromagnetic phenomena, only for much of that insight to be sidelined in modern physics education.

Why did this shift happen? What was lost along the way? And how might restoring this classical perspective help us make sense of today’s most puzzling questions in physics?

Drawing on his unique background as a physicist turned engineer, entrepreneur, and science fiction writer, Schantz blends rigorous science with engaging storytelling. He shows how a clearer conception of energy, fields, and their interaction can unify the practical and theoretical sides of physics and point the way to a more complete understanding of the quantum world.

This is the essential starting point for anyone seeking to understand the true nature of electromagnetism, and why reclaiming its origins might just reshape the future of science.

Fields & Energy is an ambitious project, encompassing not only electromagnetic physics, but also the broader historical and philosophical context. The Table of Contents, below, offers a sneak preview of Book I, and links to the material already posted.

Table of Contents

Author’s Introduction

Chapter 1 On Generation & Corruption

• 1.1 Calculation Versus Understanding: Why Care?

• 1.2 A New Understanding

• 1.3 Wait… That’s All There Is To It?

• 1.4 What’s the Benefit of This New Model?

• 1.5 A Paradigm Shift to a New Model

• 1.6 The Plan & Purpose of this Book

• Reading List for Chapter 1

Chapter 2 Aristotle, Plato, & Newton

• 2.1 Ancient Ideas of Atomism & Plenism

• 2.2 Early Physics

• 2.3 Francis Bacon & The Birth of Scientism

• 2.4 The Copernican Revolution & the “Horror Vacui”

• 2.5 Rene Descartes

• 2.6 Isaac Newton

  • 2.6.1 Newton’s Methods

  • 2.6.2 Newton’s Legacy

  • 2.6.3 The Misinterpretation of Newton

• 2.7 Summary & Conclusions

• Reading List for Chapter 2

Chapter 3 The Birth of Electromagnetism

• 3.1 The Discovery of Electromagnetism

• 3.2 Michael Faraday

• 3.3 Potentials & Analysis

• 3.4 James Clerk Maxwell & His Equations

  • 3.4.1 Ohm’s Law

  • 3.4.2 Maxwell’s Original Equations

  • 3.4.3 Gauss’s Laws

  • 3.4.4 Ampère’s Law

  • 3.4.5 Faraday’s Law & Electromagnetic Waves

  • 3.4.6 Permittivity & Permeability

  • 3.4.7 What is “Free Space?”

  • 3.4.8 Maxwell's Methods and Views

• 3.5 Summary & Conclusions

• Reading List for Chapter 3

Chapter 4 Electromagnetism Comes of Age

• 4.1 Heaviside, Poynting, & Energy Flow

• 4.2 Early Models of Electromagnetism

  • 4.2.1 Ancient Views

  • 4.2.2 Fluid Theories of Electricity

• 4.3 Actions at a Distance: Fluids or Fields?

  • 4.3.1 Skin Depth and Litz Wire

  • 4.3.2 Inductive Telegraphy at a Distance

  • 4.3.3 Cross Coupling

• 4.4 Signals Along a Transmission Line

  • 4.4.1 How Do Transmission Lines Work?

  • 4.4.2 The Catt Question

• 4.5 An Introduction to Electromagnetic Models

  • 4.5.1 Potentials and Actions at a Distance

  • 4.5.2 Jefimenko & Lorentz

  • 4.5.3 A Synthesis

• 4.6 Hertz & Radiation Fields

  • 4.6.1 How Does Radiation Work?

  • 4.6.2 The Accelerating Charge Model

• 4.7 Summary & Conclusions

• Reading List for Chapter 4

I’ll update with the Book II Table of Contents, when it’s finalized.

As a theoretical physicist turned antenna engineer, I would not have been able to write this book on electromagnetism if I didn’t have extensive hands-on experience in subjects like ultrawideband antennas and near-field wireless systems.

I’m aware of the irony of sharing a quote derisive of “book learning” in the introduction to my book project, but the book learning I have to share comes from a wealth of practical experience using things, dealing with things, and making things happen in the engineering world.

That knowledge exists in a broader historical and philosophical context, however - a context too often forgotten in our haste to focus all our time and energy on understanding the core physical concepts. I aim to make Fields & Energy accessible to a wide audience providing enough of the serious mathematical physics to serve as a launching point for professional scientists and engineers, but explaining the general concepts in a manner accessible to non-specialists.

If you want to jump into my broader body of technical work, check out The Art and Science of Ultrawideband Antennas, 2nd ed. or my ResearchGate page. You’ll find some of the preliminary technical foundation for Fields & Energy in this paper on “Energy Velocity and Reactive Fields,” in my paper “On Energy Flow in Standing Waves,” and in my paper “Energy Flow for Reflecting & Interacting Beams.”

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I also write fiction, including my alternate-history conspiracy techno-thriller series, The Hidden Truth, and my courtroom drama of biological science versus transgenderism, The Wise of Heart.

Ready to dive in to Fields & Energy? Begin with the Authors’ Introduction, and continue on into Chapter 1: On Generation and Corruption. I’m on a bit of a hiatus while Book I is being released and promoted, and I’m reorganizing the material that will go into Book II. When regular posting resumes, look for new sections to post on Wednesdays, and bonus material to post… whenever I feel like it. In the meantime, I’m posting miscellaneous material as I flesh out ideas that will appear in Books II and III.

Welcome aboard!

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